September 26, 2011

VCU/Richmond loves soccer

An my God, do they! Perhaps the largest blessing in disguise getting that wait list ticket from George Mason University had to been this. Granted, there are probably a fair share of soccer fanatics like myself that trot the campus of Mason, but I have never seen so much love for clearly the best ever sport (half joking) in one condensed area. In fact, soccer might be more popular than American football here, and that's something that even I cannot believe. Now that I have said all that, someone will say VCU is full of hipsters and soccer is the hipster sport.

As one can presume, finding soccer nerds like myself tends to be a rare, enjoyable moment. But, I have taken it for granted and rolled my eyes at the Eurosnobs donning Manchester United and Chelsea jerseys, but praised the ones in U.S. Soccer or any type of MLS jersey. Since "eurosnob" is not slang well often defined in 2010s American culture, that basically means someone who grew up in the U.S. that cheers for European power houses rather than their local soccer club. So for instance: if someone grew up in Boston, and claimed their favorite teams were the Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox and Arsenal, then they're a eurosnob, or basically, a fake soccer fan. Now if there was someone who cheered for the Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox and the Revolution, then they're a real soccer fan for supporting their team because of their roots and not cause they're simply good.

Some recent moments include any time I wear a Clint Dempsey, a soccer player, #8 U.S. Soccer jersey. Last week, I went to the Five Guys just off the VCU campus, and I run into some guy in front of me in the line wearing a Michael Bradley, a soccer player, #4 U.S. Soccer jersey. And soccer people, they instantly delve into conversation about the state of U.S. Soccer: the new coach, Jurgen Klinnsmen, the state and structure of MLS. In fact more American soccer fans probably talk about the means of how MLS is structured, the future of the league's popularity, more so than the actual events that occur, sports-wise in the league.

And that's exactly what has happened in the six encounters that I remember in the past month.